Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

When students join us at DMU, the learning experience they embark on is different from anything they've experienced before.

We welcome diversity in all its forms, including students with different life experiences, language backgrounds, learning styles, abilities and disabilities. We recognise that everyone has their own individual approach to learning, their own way of 'decoding' information, and their own unique preferences when it comes to constructing knowledge and assimilating new ideas and concepts.

Universal Design for Learning, or #UDLatDMU, is a model of best practice for teaching, learning and assessment. We want each and every student to experience equal and inclusive learning opportunities and to feel consistently motivated to engage with the learning experience.

The relevance to all DMU students is based on research findings that the natural variability in learners is the rule, not the exception. As a result, learning should be designed to take into account that variability. The three main principles of UDL (and the associated guidance) provide an inclusive experience with high-quality learning environments that focus on:

  • Student engagement – through including multiple avenues that effectively capture student interest as well as sustaining deep, meaningful interactions with core material;
  • Representation of content – through using a variety of methods to represent content and information with options for perception, language & symbols and comprehension;
  • Action & expression – through including multiple ways for demonstrating knowledge and understanding.

Our approach is sector-leading, and has resulted in praise from the Department for Education (DfE) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), along with requests from other universities to learn from our experiences.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) at DMU